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Band accuses Apple of ripping off their music video concept
There was a lot to see during yesterday's epic Apple event, and it all started with a very cool video called "Perspective." The 2-minute clip is a pretty standard event-opening video for Apple, stating some principles the company believes in and patting the user on the back for being part of it. It's shot using an age-old visual trick that exploits the viewer's limited two-dimensional perspective to line up words and phrases that exist only when viewed from that particular angle. It's a great video, but popular rock group OK Go didn't enjoy it, and they're now claiming that Apple ripped off the concept from their video for the song "The Writing's On The Wall." This would normally be a pretty absurd accusation, given the fact that perspective tricks have been around almost as long as video itself, but the band's story as to how both videos came to be is worth a listen. Speaking to Businessweek, OK Go manager Andy Gershon claims that the band actually pitched the idea for the perspective-shifting video to Apple in the hopes that the two could collaborate. When Apple declined, the band went ahead and made the video anyway, and it went on to win an award for best visual effects after its debut this year. Gershon says Apple then hired both the same production company and the same director that the band had used for the video, and tasked them with making the Perspective video that was shown off at yesterday's event. The two videos, while somewhat similar, certainly couldn't be confused with one another, and where Apple's is almost entirely black-and-white text, OK Go's music video focuses much more on shapes, colors, and plenty of humor. Still, if Gershon's story holds water, it's a heck of a coincidence, if not a bit suspicious.
Play the latest Humble Bundle with headphones
The latest Humble Bundle, available through August 9, is composed of six musical albums and zero video games. Think of this bundle as a break from all the games you've been buying thanks to a certain recent sale, while still perfectly aligned with your latest paycheck.This bundle includes music from the Valkyria Chronicles series and Jonathan Coulton's Greatest Hit (Plus 13 Other Songs), which includes a live version of the iconic song "Still Alive" from Portal. Albums by Christopher Tin, They Might Be Giants, and MC Frontalot are also featured in the music package. The sixth album, OK Go's Twelve Remixes of Four Songs, is available to buyers that pay more than the average price.For those wary of picking up some new tunes, each piece of this Humble Bundle is compatible with any pair of headphones or speakers you want to use.
The Humble Bundle tries something different, lets you name your price for albums from They Might Be Giants, Jonathan Coulton, and more
The Humble Bundle may have gone mobile on Android earlier this year, but that's proven to be a relatively small jump compared to the organization's latest expansion. It's now rolled out its first Humble Music Bundle, a collection of six albums that, as always, you can name your price for. Those include an album of rarities from They Might Be Giants, Jonathan Coulton's Greatest Hit (Plus 13 Other Songs), an exclusive MC Frontalot collection, Christopher Tin's Calling All Dawns, and game composer Hitoshi Sakimoto's Best of the Valkyria Chronicles -- plus OK Go's Twelve Remixes of Four Songs if you pay above the current average price. Naturally, all of the albums are DRM-free and available in both MP3 and FLAC formats, and you're able to choose what percentage of your payment goes to the artists, charities (Child's Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation) and the Humble Bundle organization itself. You can get a taste of what's in store in the video after the break, or get previews of each album before you buy at the link below.
Engadget Distro Issue 24: CES Roundup, OK Go's Andy Ross and SOPA comic relief
We've spent the past week recuperating and reflecting, and while we're ready to put CES 2012 behind us, we're bring you this special roundup edition to cover all of our consumer electronics bases. In this issue, we'll dive deep into product categories that were overlooked in our previous CES editions, like audio, and flesh out those categories that dominated this year's coverage. Also in this issue, OK Go's Andy Ross takes on the Distro Q&A, we bring you a visual breakdown of Engadget's CES Vital Stats and Box Brown takes a comic look at the SOPA / PIPA debate. So join us in grabbing a cold one and get to downloading.Update: And we're back! Let the downloads begin!Distro Issue 24 PDFDistro on the iTunes App StoreDistro in the Android MarketDistro APK (for sideloading)Like Distro on FacebookFollow Distro on Twitter
3DS update adds 3D OK Go video to home screen
The alt-rockers of OK Go have made a career of staging elaborate videos to garner attention for their music, but their new stunt may be the oddest yet: They're sneaking into 3DS systems. That's right, updating your 3DS on Sunday will beam OK Go's 3D video "White Knuckles" right to your home screen. The video will be deleted with the following update, so savor its three-dimensional dog-training amusements while you can. If you want a preview, you can watch the video in stupid, revolting 2D after the break. Side note: Our friends with Japanese 3DS systems got a similar update, but with a video of Koji Kondo and some other Nintendo folks playing the Super Mario theme. Feel free to argue about who's getting the better end of that deal.
Rock Band Weekly: OK Go, The Police, War
Next week's Rock Band DLC announcement is a day early (wonder why?), featuring four individual tracks from three different artists. Details after the break.
Remix the new OK Go single for Rock Band 3 competition
As evidenced by their music videos, OK Go's one of the more creative bands out there -- that's why we weren't surprised to hear about a competition the quartet is holding in conjunction with Rock Band 3. The rules of the contest are simple: Remix OK Go's newest single "White Knuckles" using all of your musical prowess. Dave Fridmann, the band's producer, will highlight his favorite remixes every week on OK Go's website, until the contest's winner is decided Oct. 29 -- at which point it will be transformed into a Rock Band Network track. Like magic! The creator of the winning track will also receive a 360, a Rock Band 3 full band bundle and a signed copy of OK Go's upcoming album, "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky." Would it be too much to ask that they sign the 360 and all the instruments, too? We mean, we know creating intricate internet music videos probably keeps them busy, but remixing a song for use in a video game's gotta be hard work, too.
OK Go's impassioned plea for net neutrality, quirky videos
It looks like Damian Kulash has given some serious thought to the issue of net neutrality, going so far as to voice his concerns in the Washington Post this weekend. The OK Go man began with a brief overview of the Google / Verizon "net neutrality" scheme, but this is the part that really caught our interest: The Internet is the purest marketplace for ideas that the world has ever seen, and the amazing power of such a level playing field has revolutionized everything. Google knows this better than anyone. It started in a garage and became an industry leader by having great ideas, not mountains of cash. And it's wonderful: The Internet works! It rewards innovators such as Google, and it relegates protectionist, defensive, idea-squashing fogies such as record companies to the dustbin of history. Now that the Internet has been around long enough to have developed its own giants, though, we need to make sure they don't ruin what's great about the technology that made them. We need to make sure they don't crush the idea industry the way the music giants crushed the music industry... And this is why net neutrality is important: it preserves the virtues of the technology (and protects them from a market that would erode those virtues for short-term gain). Really, the whole thing's worth a quick read. Hit up the source link to check it out for yourself.
Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero: March DLC
Next month's Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero DLC should satisfy would-be rockers of all types, offering an eclectic mix of -- oh, there's totally some Flogging Molly! Sorry, we just had to get that out of our system, because St. Patrick's Day is next month and because, man, Flogging Molly is totally awesome. There are four distinct track packs coming next month, featuring OK Go, Blink-182, the aforementioned Molly Floggers and an '80s track pack -- because nothing says March like a dusty old denim jacket with the sleeves cut off and some Night Ranger.
That awesome OK Go video is in the iTMS
OK Go is a pretty rocking little band signed to a major label, but they release their videos using the grassroots goodness of the internets like YouTube and Google Video. Their latest craze is the video for a song called Here It Goes Again, and it's the work of pure genius.While the video is of course available in crummy Flash quality for free, I just noticed today that it appeared in the iTMS (link) for $1.99, and I'm having a hard time thinking of many other bands who deserve a purchase as much as OK Go for such hard and creative work - no matter how measly their cut may be.
